Name of a God

[big teej]

greetings playgrounders,

I am working on my homebrew setting, which is largely in flux until I obtain every 3.0 and 3.5 sourcebook ever published.

in the meantime, there are certain things I can still work on.

like the pantheon.


so I ask you, for those of you who have created your own world/pantheon.

how did you name the gods?

[Zaydos]

I stole the names off of obscure, or not so obscure, real world deities mainly.

Examples: Enyalius, Enyo, Hiemdall.

I did get called on it when I used Thor.

Then again I'm not very creative.

[GoblinArchmage]

You could also name them after their most significant domain.

[Kenneth]

random letter placement works wonders.


also trudding up alternate names for dieties as bg teej has done is a good idea as well.

FOr me i honestly write down names that feel like they fit the particular diety

sounds weird but it happens

liek for my god of war gutteral one syllable words fit, for me, as in a fight you tend to grunt more thna have eloquent conversations.

[arguskos]

Let's see... Z-R has the following, with their sources listed.

-Arioch, Xiombarg, Slortar, Ean, Donblas, Pyaray, Jhaelen, Hawkmoon, Scyllua, and Elwhere are all stolen from various literary locations.
-Vghotan and Kor'tel'ress are made up. Random syllables.
-The Techlord, the Dark Prince, and the Leaf King are all self-explanatory.
-Illesine and Arthindol are stolen from D&D.
-The One Above Five (1/5) is made up, as is The Green One.
-The Dark Five (Daggoth, Zasz, Nargil, Araq, Kagg) are stolen from a video game.
-The Dulrotha are made up.

So, I guess I vary between stealing names and making stuff up.

[big teej]

I stole the names off of obscure, or not so obscure, real world deities mainly.

Examples: Enyalius, Enyo, Hiemdall.

I did get called on it when I used Thor.

Then again I'm not very creative.

this is something I considered, but I'm trying to stay away from existing dieties, (unless the name is an accepted common use, such as some form of "mor" for death, that might see use)


You could also name them after their most significant domain.

I considered this, but have discarded the idea entirely, I dislike it, at least so far as my own setting/world goes.




random letter placement works wonders.


also trudding up alternate names for dieties as bg teej has done is a good idea as well.

FOr me i honestly write down names that feel like they fit the particular diety

sounds weird but it happens

liek for my god of war gutteral one syllable words fit, for me, as in a fight you tend to grunt more thna have eloquent conversations.

I did what now? :smallconfused:

anywho.
random syllables may indeed see use, but much like your war god idea, I want my dieties names to... evoke the feeling of their domains.

of instance.
one I've managed to come up with (though I'm not sure if I'll use it)
Kjor the god of war/battle
prounounced Kuh-j-or... almost like chore, but with a J instead of a Ch


Let's see... Z-R has the following, with their sources listed.

-Arioch, Xiombarg, Slortar, Ean, Donblas, Pyaray, Jhaelen, Hawkmoon, Scyllua, and Elwhere are all stolen from various literary locations.
-Vghotan and Kor'tel'ress are made up. Random syllables.
-The Techlord, the Dark Prince, and the Leaf King are all self-explanatory.
-Illesine and Arthindol are stolen from D&D.
-The One Above Five (1/5) is made up, as is The Green One.
-The Dark Five (Daggoth, Zasz, Nargil, Araq, Kagg) are stolen from a video game.
-The Dulrotha are made up.

So, I guess I vary between stealing names and making stuff up.

z-r?

[Welknair]

I took the main portfolio element of each deity and wrote it backwards to see what I got.

Erif was my favorite out of them...

[arguskos]

z-r?
Zaaman-Rul (notably, also a jacked name from D&D, though fairly obscure), my home setting. You can find the threads (currently on hold, due to life and lack of drive) in my signature.

[big teej]

Zaaman-Rul (notably, also a jacked name from D&D, though fairly obscure), my home setting. You can find the threads (currently on hold, due to life and lack of drive) in my signature.

oh, for a moment there I thought it a search engine or something. :smalltongue:

[Kenneth]

I did what now? :smallconfused:





LOL my bad.. it wasn't you but Zydos who i was referring to with that comment... for some odd reason I had typed in your name while thinking his..

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Well, I've always found it helps to start with the God's followers. What sort of people would create what sort of God? For example, I once created two Gods (in a much larger Pantheon) whose names were Balien and Norde. War and Death respectively.

Balien was originally based on Baldr, from Norse mythology. I changed the ending to a less Viking "-ien". I liked how this turned out because it was a pretty name for a War god, and that was because his followers didn't see him as the traditional bully/warmongering/blood-drinking War God most people write. Warriors in that society see their Patron Deity as an honorable champion because they are a society of law, and they respect restraint from someone with power. A less-violent name fit.

Norde was actually simpler. Mort, or "Death", but with a consonant shift on the 'M' and 'D'. It's amazing what names you can come up with if you read up on Indo-European language shifts. The name Norde is short and sweet, almost abrupt. The people who believe in him see Death the same way. Also, for English-speakers at least, "Nor-" is reminiscent of "North" and thus, "Cold", like Norde's personality.

Hope that helps!

[Souhiro]

A friend of mine throw a 1D3+1, and then throws a 1D71 dice (It is ridicully easy to create one with Excel, to name an app that almost everyone have installed)

Then, he just select a syllab from the Japanese Sillabary, which have 71 of these. If the resulting word is easy to remember and enunciate, he have a new name.

[big teej]

I took the main portfolio element of each deity and wrote it backwards to see what I got.

Erif was my favorite out of them...

.... this is a good idea... I might will use it and see if it works.


Well, I've always found it helps to start with the God's followers. What sort of people would create what sort of God? For example, I once created two Gods (in a much larger Pantheon) whose names were Balien and Norde. War and Death respectively.
- snippy-

.

Hope that helps!

that's actually a pretty good idea, -files it away-


A friend of mine throw a 1D3+1, and then throws a 1D71 dice (It is ridicully easy to create one with Excel, to name an app that almost everyone have installed)

Then, he just select a syllab from the Japanese Sillabary, which have 71 of these. If the resulting word is easy to remember and enunciate, he have a new name.

hm.... I've always been kinda weary of the "random syllable" method... because its... well, random

[Whybird]

Fundamentally, what you want out of the name of a god is something that your players will easily remember. So you want it to sound similar to what the god's about.

If you're coming up with a god of death, think of deathy-sounding words, especially if you can fit in the greek/latin root. So necr- and mort- are good starts. You can then throw syllables after that and get Necros, Necran, Necrus, Necrad; Mortin, Morten, Mortares, Mortrax.

The other option is just to go with full-on descriptive names. This is even better because a name like "The Solemn Lord" tells you far more about what the god is like that "Kthajax". It's also far easier to remember. So rather than just a collection of syllables think of things that are thematically linked to death: the colour black, ravens, dust, maggots. Then give your god a name that contains one: something like "The Lord of Dust". Right away you've got a theme for your god and his followers, and you know that he's going to be a very different god of death to if he was called the Maggot-Prince. The Lord of Dust sounds to me like a solemn old man who carefully catalogues the souls of the dead in an ancient library that extends for rooms and rooms, while if the Maggot-Prince was in charge he'd simply be giggling insanely and hurling the souls of the dead into a pit of corruption where they slowly melted down into raw matter for his minions to feast on.

[Kroozer101]

Google Translate the main domain of the god from English (or whatever language) into a language most suiting the times and setting. For a medieval, typical D&D game, I like German, Greek, and Latin. Then you just play with the words until they sound right.

War, in German = Krieg
From there, add a syllable, and get...
Kriegvaard! God of war and thunder, Destroyer of the Great Wurm, Crusher of Suns... You get the drift.

Wisdom, in Latin = Sapientia
Sapientia... Sapenti... Serpenti... Serpentina... Serpentina!
You can do this with anything, as long as you can read the language's characters.

[big teej]

Google Translate the main domain of the god from English (or whatever language) into a language most suiting the times and setting. For a medieval, typical D&D game, I like German, Greek, and Latin. Then you just play with the words until they sound right.

War, in German = Krieg
From there, add a syllable, and get...
Kriegvaard! God of war and thunder, Destroyer of the Great Wurm, Crusher of Suns... You get the drift.

Wisdom, in Latin = Sapientia
Sapientia... Sapenti... Serpenti... Serpentina... Serpentina!
You can do this with anything, as long as you can read the language's characters.

you caught me, this is what I've been doing, some things' don't give very satisfying results though...for instance, a god of sex, pleasure and fertility doesn't come out to well in any language I could track down quickly

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Are there any specific Gods you're working on? A theme, a domain, a culture or abstract idea? What kind of God are you creating now?

[big teej]

Are there any specific Gods you're working on? A theme, a domain, a culture or abstract idea? What kind of God are you creating now?

at the moment I'm just kicking things around, the only thing I have "set" in my pantheon is a section that (thematically) is being largely cribbed off the 4 gods of chaos.

namely, a god of destruction/murder/blood/battle
he's got a name, the aforementioned Kjor

next in line is the Slaanesh stand in.
and nothing that pops out of a translator for sex, hedonism, pleasure, decadence, or lust sounded good to me.

granted, the Slaanesh stand in isn't evil, more Chaotic neutral, the god of sex and pleasure, fertility and etc. not the god of excess

also being kicked around is the idea of having Mor as the death god. sure it's been used, but I feel its generic enough that people can't pick it out and say "hey you stole that from X"

if it is, well.... I'll deal with that later.

as I stated originally, the setting is in flux until I get my hands on every sourcebook, so I've got quite a bit of time to hammer it out.

[Lyndworm]

I made up the names of a bunch of gods once before for something else; I might recycle them for Gatazka. In no particular order, they're Benthos, Hekaya, Zenba, Olitra, Dasnu, Nakim, Askhol, Yiltrim, Giltrim, Tunerha, Freski, Ogitu, Nolkha, Aderha, Vakmir, Elstra, Hesvor, Plundes, Kheroth, Deroli, and Selkari. Feel free to steal anything you like.

[Yanagi]

Sometimes a cluster of syllables just feels right, but generally I use versions of ancient names of people, places, and things, with slight alterations. With the advent of Wikipedia, the process is a lot more streamlined. It practically feeds you obscure words and concepts begging to be used.

One trick is to find the non Hellenized, non-Romanized names: everybody recognizes the name Thoth...Djehuty--not so much. In a similar vein, most deities (and demons, spirits, etc) have alternate names and honorifics that can be appropriated. Sticking with the Thoth example: A'an, Khenti, Iah, Mehi.

Another trick is to play the prefix-suffix game: chopping of the front of one name or word and affixing it to an ending taken from another. Depending on how clever you want to get, this can be fairly random, or a sort of conceptual liason. For example, naming a deity of strategy and war Andatescus...Hannibal plus Mithdates plus Spartacus (the three "great enemies" of Rome).

Letter substitution is also good. I tend to find vowel substitution is more transformative than consonants.

[big teej]

those are pretty good suggestions, so good in fact, I think I now have a name for my death god. provided it hasn't been done somewhere already.


Mosgrim - TN god of death, in all its forms.
(he might end up being lawful Neutral)

that name hitting anybody's "its been done before" sensor?

[Lyndworm]

No, but putting "grim" right in there seems a little on the nose.

[hobbitkniver]

As for collection of books, heres WotC thread with some good lists.

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19551854/What_are_the_titles_of_all_the_books_for_3.5

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I generally go for "Pick a word that describes the god. Run it through a translator. Mess with that word."

Examples:

In my world, I have several pantheons of gods, for different cultures.

Unathrenis, for example. Una: one. Deus: god. Clearly, he is the sole god of his culture.

The Poccnr/Poccnur people have several gods.
Otietsbog is the Judge and King of the gods, Oyar his wife. Zemnyin his mother. his Brother the keeper of the land Nyctbihr. And his two children, Coln'habo, and the dual goddess Noxotba/Cameptba, alternatively the Hag and the goddess of Beauty. Again, all of these were gotten by somehow linking some word of their portfolio, and then translating it to Russian, and then sometimes using the transliteration, sometimes using what the Cyrillic characters look like they say.

The last example was the hardest, because I wanted a pantheon that FELT like the Norse, but was quite clearly different from the Aesir at the same time. So the pantheon of the Atheinsfolk were:
Fegurth was the Lucky God. His name is the icelandic word for Beauty.
Mattur is the Odin character. His name means Power.
The sky god, Himinn, his name is icelandic for, well, Sky.
Hafer, I can't remember, he's the sea though.
Stjörnurar means 'control', but he's the god of light, art, and poetry.
And then you have your ever-present Fertility goddess, Fæðing, or Birth.

This creates pantheons that feel real, and sound real too. I found that picking a language to represent a culture, for all names, really helped. Especially Romanian. That language looks awesome. Just stick their words for city or whatever on the end of another word, and you end up with places like Maresul, and Suduloras. Both the -sul and -oras endings are very fantasy! Amon Sul and Edoras, anyone?

[big teej]

No, but putting "grim" right in there seems a little on the nose.

it does. but I think I can live with it. :smallbiggrin:


As for collection of books, heres WotC thread with some good lists.

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19551854/What_are_the_titles_of_all_the_books_for_3.5

appreciate it, but I've already got a list :smallcool:

[Yanagi]

I found that picking a language to represent a culture, for all names, really helped.

Absolutely concur. Picking one language (or a few closely related ones) gives the names a feeling of coherence. I do this for planar critters as well as deities.


Mosgrim

Sounds great. Care to let us in on how you derived it? I feel like I know the suffix -grim, but can't remember from where.

[big teej]

Sounds great. Care to let us in on how you derived it? I feel like I know the suffix -grim, but can't remember from where.

it actually just came to me while reading Gwym's last post.

I started turning over "death stuff" in my head
Morr...
Grim Reaper
???
Mosgrim.

I'm really bad at explaining my thought processes. :smalltongue:

it really did "just come to me" though.
and I feel like that's what the best ideas due.

so now we have two gods named
Kjor - Khorne stand-in
Mosgrim - god of death in all its forms.

huzzzah! progress.

[Dimers]

I shake up a game of Boggle and try to find a "word" of the appropriate length in it. It's led to quite a few good town names and changed the way my gameworld does math, in addition to naming a few deities. Aquale, Belgeddes, Brava, Briggn, Cahal, Canaire, Collave, Courdemain, Covadie, Duan, Elissis, Howrie, Merathet, Nerarbel, Nymous, Outha, Pellah, Rasedun, Stoling, Ungerlie (no relation to Umberlee!), Yelodenie ...